Student hair rule to go before school board

Ashton Bodiford, an 11-year-old suspended because his hair length violated school board policy for male students, wears a shirt that features his picture on the front and “dream, inspire, lead” on the back to a Rapides Parish School Board committee meeting Thursday. The back of the shirt also includes LongHairFreedom, the hashtag Ashton’s mother has used in social media posts and a petition to change the district’s policy regarding hair length for students.(Photo: Leigh Guidry/The Town Talk)

Students in the Rapides Parish School District are a step closer to being able to wear their hair as long or short as they want and wear earrings, too — both boys and girls.

A committee of the Rapides Parish School Board approved a proposed “dress and appearance for all students” section for its student handbook at a meeting Thursday. The proposal would replace a section separated into rules for boys and girls in the current handbook. It goes before the full board for discussion and possible approval on Tuesday.

Although policies are reviewed annually, the changes were prompted by a fifth-grader’s suspension for having long hair this spring. His story and discipline hearing attracted national attention.

Ashton Bodiford, 11, missed most of the spring semester after being told he could not return to school until he cut his hair, which falls to the middle of his back. Current board policy requires male students have hair no longer than chin length in the back or 3 inches on top.

He and his family wore red shirts featuring Ashton’s photo on the front and “dream, inspire, lead” on the back to the meeting. The back also included LongHairFreedom, the hashtag Ashton’s mother has used in social media posts and a petition to change the district’s policy.

Clyde Washington, deputy assistant superintendent of administration, presented the proposal to the board’s Discipline Policy Review Committee. The first rule addressed students’ hair but not length.

“Students’ hair must be groomed in such a manner that it will not draw undue attention,” it states. “Only naturally occurring hair colors are allowed (black, brunette, auburn or blond) natural or dyed.”

What is considered to “draw undue attention” would be under the discretion of the school principal, Washington said.

“I don’t know how long hair can be disruptive,” he said.

Gerald Crooks, board member on the committee, said that could mean 52 different interpretations — one for each school in the district.

Suzanna Williams, committee member and Tioga Junior High teacher, asked for reasoning behind changing a policy that “has been working for so many years.”

“It’s never been challenged,” fellow member Johnny Augustine offered.

In his 30 years as a school bus driver, Augustine said he hasn’t seen hair as the determining factor of a child’s behavior.

“I see clean-cut kids cutting up still on my bus,” Augustine said. “... It doesn’t have nothing to do with whether kids’ hair is long or short.”

Williams agreed on that point.

After a failed attempt to also allow one unnatural hair color, the hair rule passed as proposed. It also would allow for extensions, braids, cornrows and other hairstyles as long as they are “groomed in such a manner that it will not draw undue attention,” Washington repeated.

Ashton said he was “halfway happy” because they are “halfway there,” as the proposed policy still needs approval from the full board.

“If it does pass weighs heavily on our decision (about where to send Ashton to school in the fall),” his mother Angela Brewton said.

Ashton will be going on to sixth grade after missing more than 50 days of his fifth-grade year at J.B. Nachman Elementary due to his suspension. Ashton completed work sent home to him this spring and passed the grade, Brewton said.

Before voting, the committee heard from a few community members, including current and former Rapides Parish educators.

Bolton High teacher Ty Cedars talked about distractions in the classroom.

“Things are a distraction when there’s a rule against it,” he said. “If there wasn’t a rule about having long hair, if there hadn’t been headlines about a boy with long hair ... the hair itself wouldn’t be a distraction.”

After the meeting, Cedars said he has seen male students that violate the current hair-length policy but that it has not been a distraction in his classroom.

Another rule on Ashton’s radar was one that passed the committee 6-5. It would allow male students to wear stud earrings to school. Ashton has worn small, transparent posts in his pierced ears during the school day.

The current handbook allows earrings for female students only. The proposed rule distinguishes between studs and earrings, which includes studs as well as hoops and dangling earrings, and permits studs for boys and earrings for girls.

The two proposed rules will go with 10 others before the full board at its June meeting Tuesday.

Other rules prohibited dreadlocks, the activity of braiding during school hours, mohawks and hair carving or art as well as non-hair items like tennis shoes with skates and sunglasses.